GPO Cheese and Wine Room

"You just wanted an excuse to get drunk again didn't you?" I accuse Vay. The previous night we were umming and ahhing about whether we should go to this bar called GPO Cheese and Wine Room. Yes. No prizes for guessing what that was. Now there's a blatant name if ever there was one. Got to give them credit for originality.

So we did our research, and all signs pointed to the fact that yes, we should get ourselves smashed on a Thursday night in the city. All while doing it in style! Now that's class.

It almost never was, you know, we had only made the booking an hour or so before we wanted to turn up. The girl warned us there'd be a large boisterous group coming in around 6pm, so we opted for 7pm, hoping by then they'd have all buggered off. We read reviews of the place the previous night, the description of soft jazz and prospect of quenching his thirst for wine sold him, whereas I was taken by all those different cheeses and nice atmosphere.

Where is it? Martin place. Are you sure? You haven't been in the city that long, have you? We walk around for a while, trying to find an eatery or some such to go to before having our little drinkfest. We settled upon the upmarket sushi train called Sosumi, in the midst of the grand old GPO building. The place was candle-lit, and glowing with a small number of suits and skirts, milling in small groups. Our coats were taken and hung, now there's a nice touch, right there. The sushi wasn't the best I've had and it was somewhat overpriced, but they were tipped just for their service. And the fact they've got a little water filter at each place setting. How cute is that?

Just around the corner though, we came to a little sandstone room, filled with groups of people. So this is what it's like eh. We were ushered into a small alley behind the main room with the loud groups, and suddenly it felt intimate and exclusive, with the dark tables for two and low mood lighting, even the waiter was clearing one of the tables quietly. "You look positively charming in that light, hun". Yes, I do, don't I. We were presented with a large menu, and left to peruse it. Yes, peruse. You've got to use those terms, see. At the right moment, our waitress for the evening arrived to take our orders. I was quite charmed hearing her say "perfect" at my choices. I'm sure she does that for everyone, but still, I'm sure she actually meant it that time.

Vay went with the "international flight", and was presented with 3 exotic cheeses (a hard, a soft and a blue) matched with a white, red and port wine. Whereas I decided on going a la carte, choosing a soft buttery cheese called Holy Goat "La Luna" goat's milk cheese, house-marinated mixed olives, glace figs, rustic ciabatta bread and a Colvin Estate San Rose wine. No wonder she thought it was perfect. Look at it. God I'm good. The cheese was probably one of the best I've had. I'm going to insist on having that from now on. That's right. Holy Goat.

We sampled each other's offerings, and it was surprising how such a simple concept as serving wine and cheese could work. The hour grew late, and it just felt amazingly comfortable and enjoyable. So much so, that I'd go so far as to recommend anyone to try this experience.